The present invention relates to toy figures and more particularly to toy figures having movable limbs or body parts.
In the past, a great deal of creative effort has gone into the design and construction of toy figures such as dolls, animals, and the like. Illustrative of such creacivity was Thomas Edison's doll containing a miniature phonograph record player.
Toy figures having movable limbs and parts are known. Typically, such toy figures have included limbs mounted on hinges of various sorts. Typically, such hinged mechanisms have provided at least minimum movement of the figure body parts; however, as a general rule, they have not provided return means. In other words, if a limb on the figure were moved from one position to a second position, the limb would remain in such second position unless or until it was manually moved to a further position. Other toy figures have had spring return mechanisms for various body parts; however, such return mechanisms have generally snapped the body part back quickly in an unlife-life manner. Such previous toy figures further were generally limited in regard to their points of movement.
An object of the present invention is to provide a toy figure having a variety of life-like movements and includes a toy figure having a memory such that a limb or body part may be moved from one position to another manually and, when released, will slowly return to the original position. Typically, a giraffe may include a neck that may be bent to simulate an eating position and may be released to return to its normal upright position. Another object of the present invention is to provide a toy figure having an elastic skin which is bendable and stretchable, yet one which returns the figure to its original shape and position. The toy figure has a viscous filling that impedes such bending and stretching, giving a life-like feeling. Another object of the invention is to provide a toy figure having limbs and body portions which will yield when squeezed thereby distorting the shape of the figure, yet a memory such that the body part will then return to its original shape upon release. An object of the invention is to provide a toy figure that may be stretched, squeezed, distorted, balled-up, flattened, fattened and the like. A further object of the present invention is to provide a toy figure having a wide variety of types of movements, including hinge-like movements, for example, at the knee or elbow, a stretching movement such as elongation of a neck or leg member, and a compression movement providing give when squeezed.
The present invention provides a toy figure of any desired shape. For example, the toy figure may be a doll in the shape of a muscular man or a shapely woman. The toy figure may alternatively be in the form of an animal shape such as a giraffe, an elephant or a pig. In each instance, however, the figure will include an elastic skin having a memory and a highly viscous filling material.
The skin material may be any elastic film material having a memory. Suitable material includes natural rubber, as well as synthetic rubber. The elastic film is first formed into the desired shape such as the shape of the human body or that of an animal body. This skin manufacturing process may be carried out in a manner similar to that used in preparation of shaped expandable ballons. Desirably, this elastic skin has elongation characteristics permitting stretching of at least 300 percent of its original dimensions and yet returning to its original dimensions upon release. It also has characteristics that permit repeated stretching and distorting.
An important characteristics of the skin is its capability of stretching while under stress and returning to its original size upon release of the stress. It is desirable to provide a skin in the present invention which requires a degree of stress in order to provide elongation. The usual measure for such stress-elongation relationship is Young's Modulus of Elasticity which may be measured in pounds per cross-sectional square inch (hereafter p.s.i.) of skin required to give a particular percentage of elongation. The skin of the present invention desirably has a Modulus of Elasticity of at least 200 p.s.i. at an elongation of 300% and up to 800 p.s.i. at an elongation of 800%. A preferred skin has a Modulus of Elasticity of between 350 and 500 p.s.i. at 500% elongation. Of course, one may utilize a skin material requiring a higher or lower degree of stress to provide elongation by increasing or decreasing the thickness of the skin and/or by appropriate adjustment of the viscosity of the filling material.
The filling material is a fluid having a high viscosity at room temperature. The particular chemical composition of the viscous fluid is not critical to the present invention so long as the fluid does not destroy the skin material. Instead, it is the physical characteristics that are important. The viscosity typically is in the range of 5.times.10.sup.3 centipoises to 5.times.10.sup.8 centipoises, preferably 1.times.10.sup.6 to 1.times.10.sup.7 centipoise. In other words, the filling material when under the normal stress imposed by usage remains in such viscosity range. The filling material also has an adhesive character (i.e., sticky) such that it adheres to the skin material when the skin is stretched. The filling material also has cohesive properties such that the filling material will flow and not separate or break when the skin body parts are stretched. The fluid maintains a constant viscosity while under shear. A variety of filling materials exhibit the aforementioned physical characteristics. The preferred such materials are aqueous sugar solutions, such as molasses, corn syrup, honey, as well as solutions of other sugars such as sucrose, glucose and the like. Other representative materials are pine pitch, rosin and asphaltum. It is also preferred that the filling materials be non toxic, although this is not essential.
The filling material may also include various inert particulate material such as limestone, talc, wood flour and other materials which may serve to increase or decrease the weight of a given volume. The inert particulate material may also serve to reduce the cost of the composite filling material.